QatarEnergy announces new oil discovery offshore Namibia

QatarEnergy has announced an oil discovery with “encouraging results” from the Merlin-1X exploration well in the Petroleum Exploration License 39 (PEL 0039), offshore Namibia.
Merlin-1X is the tenth well drilled under the license, delivering “the most promising subsurface results to date,” says QatarEnergy, with “good reservoir quality, light oil, and limited associated gas.”
Commenting on the discovery, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, and the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, said: “We are pleased with this discovery, which follows three earlier discovery announcements in Namibia. These results represent a significant step that further strengthens confidence in the Orange Basin as an emerging world-class hydrocarbon province and aligns with QatarEnergy’s strategy to expand its international upstream portfolio through high-impact exploration.”
QatarEnergy holds interests in four offshore exploration licenses in Namibia: PEL 0039 (45%), PEL 0056 (35.25%), PEL 0091 (33.03%), and PEL 0090 (27.5%) – collectively covering approximately 34,000 square kilometers.

The Orange Basin 

Offshore Namibia, particularly the Orange Basin in the south, has transformed from a frontier exploration area into one of the global oil and gas industry’s hottest plays in just a few years. Major discoveries starting in 2022 — including Shell and QatarEnergy’s Graff-1, TotalEnergies’ giant Venus find, and subsequent hits like Jonker-1X and others — have proven a working petroleum system with light oil, good reservoir quality, and significant volumes.

Estimates for discovered resources in the Namibian Orange Basin now run into the billions of barrels, with some analysts comparing its potential to early days in Guyana-Suriname. The basin’s scale, water depths (often 2,000–3,000+ meters), and proximity to similar geology across the South Atlantic (linking to Brazil) have drawn supermajors and heightened expectations for commercial development in the late 2020s.

Activity has accelerated dramatically, with multiple operators drilling high-impact wells.

QatarEnergy holds material stakes across several licenses (including the operator Shell’s PEL 0039 where Merlin-1X was drilled), alongside players like TotalEnergies, Galp (with its large Mopane discovery), Chevron, BP/Eni (Azule), and others.

Recent wells such as Merlin-1X build directly on prior successes in the same license, targeting structures between earlier finds and aiming to delineate larger accumulations. Appraisal and exploration campaigns are ramping up in 2025–2026, with first oil potentially targeted around 2029–2030 from projects like Venus. Namibia’s government, through NAMCOR, is actively promoting further licensing while preparing infrastructure, positioning the country for a potential step-change in its economy.

This surge underscores Namibia’s strategic emergence as Africa’s next major offshore energy frontier. With estimated resources that could more than double GDP if developed, the Orange Basin is attracting billions in investment and shifting the country toward becoming a future oil producer. Challenges remain — including technical hurdles in deep water, commercialization timelines, and balancing development with environmental and local benefits — but sustained success like Merlin-1X continues to de-risk the play and draw further capital. QatarEnergy’s expanding portfolio here aligns with its broader international upstream growth strategy in high-potential basins.